Resource sovereignty and the planning-execution gap: Institutional constraints on strategic management in the defence sector of Zambia

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between strategic plans integration and resource utilisation effectiveness in the Defence Sector of Zambia. It starts by posing this question: Why does the defence sector of Zambia consistently craft refined strategic plans that fail in execution? Through a mixed-methods investigation involving a structured survey of 135 senior officers (drawn from 171 eligible officers via stratified proportional sampling) and in-depth interviews with 21 purposively selected key informants across the Defence Sector of Zambia, the study documents a remarkable inconsistency. This research was guided by dynamic capabilities and institutional theories. Quantitative data were analysed using Spearman’s rank correlation and descriptive statistics, while qualitative data underwent thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke’s six-phase approach. The quantitative results indicate a strong positive association between strategic plan integration and resource allocation planning (Spearman’s ρ=0.635, p < 0.001). This suggests a high planning alignment (cognitive seizing) capacity. However, execution-related ratings remain only slightly above neutral, with low mean scores for timeliness of resource availability (M=3.28, SD=1.05) and efficiency of resource utilisation in daily operations (M=3.22, SD=1.01). Qualitative interviews attributed this planning-execution gap to a resource utilisation bottleneck in which approved strategic budgets face delayed disbursement, rigid procurement controls, and operational tempos that outpace central public financial management processes. Because the evidence is cross-sectional and largely perceptual, the findings should be interpreted as strong associations and convergent institutional explanations rather than definitive causal effects. Zambia’s fiscal volatility compels the Treasury to treat defence strategic capital as expendable fiscal buffers for short-term crises. This study advances Dynamic Capabilities Theory by showing how institutional environments in developing economies constrain the transition from a seizing-to-transforming pathway. This study introduces the concept of resource sovereignty, which is the institutional capacity to shield mission-critical budgets from political interference. This is a necessary statutory mechanism and a reliable governance solution for African defence sectors facing fiscal volatility. Without it, defence organisations remain perpetual good planners but inconsistent executors. This also undermines SDG 16 on institutional effectiveness goals. The study concludes that the resource utilisation bottleneck is an external institutional failure rooted in fiscal volatility, IFMS rigidity, and budget-cash decoupling. This is not an internal planning weakness. This study recommends statutory budget protection and financial system decentralisation as complementary resource sovereignty mechanisms to enable consistent strategic execution in the defence sector of Zambia.